New tropical depression forms in Atlantic as Hurricane Irene threatens East Coast

View full sizeVisitors from Dahlonega, Ga., watch the surf crash into the pylons under the pier on Tybee Island, Ga., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011, as Hurricane Irene heads towards South Florida. Forecasters are predicting that Irene will strike North Carolina's Outer Banks on Saturday. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

MIAMI — A new tropical depression has formed far out over the Atlantic with forecasters saying it will likely become a tropical storm.

The depression's maximum sustained winds early Thursday are near 35 mph (55 kph). But the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says additional strengthening is expected and it's likely to become a tropical storm later in the day.

The depression is centered about 435 miles (700 kilometers) west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and is moving west-northwest near 13 mph (20 kph).

Meanwhile farther west, Hurricane Irene is threatening the U.S. East Coast.

The U.S. Navy has ordered the Second Fleet in Virginia to leave Norfolk Naval Station to keep the ships safe Hurricane Irene, which is approaching the East Coast.

Thursday's order applies to 64 ships in southeastern Virginia. Twenty-seven ships are moving out to sea, beginning at 8 a.m. Another 28 are being moved to other places such as repair shipyards that are safer than the piers at Norfolk.

Nine ships are already at sea.

The Navy says ships that are under way can better weather such storms. It also will help protect piers from being damage.

Forecasters have yet to pinpoint where the hurricane will make landfall. It's currently a Category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph (185 kph).

Irene could hit anywhere from North Carolina to New York this weekend, leaving officials in the path of uncertainty to make a delicate decision. Should they tell tourists to leave during one of the last weeks of the multibillion-dollar summer season?

Most were in a wait-and-see mode, holding out to get every dime before the storm's path crystalizes. North Carolina's governor told reporters not to scare people away.

"You will never endanger your tourists, but you also don't want to over inflate the sense of urgency about the storm. And so let's just hang on," North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said Wednesday. At the same time she warned to "prepare for the worst."

In the Bahamas early Thursday, the head of the National Emergency Management Agency says that at least two settlements have been devastated on the southern islands of Acklins and Crooked. Capt. Stephen Russell says an official there reports that 90 percent of the homes in the settlements have been severely damaged or destroyed. Several hundred people live on each island. No injuries have been reported.

View full sizeA National Hurricane Center graphic shows nearly the entire U.S. East Coast under threat from Hurricane Irene, as well as the position of a newly formed tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean. (National Hurricane Center)

They were among the first to be hit Wednesday as the hurricane made its way up the chain. Tourists cut their vacations short and caught the last flights out before the airport was closed.

Irene has already hit Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, causing landslides and flooding homes. One woman was killed.

No warnings or watches were out for North Carolina though they were likely later Thursday. But on its Outer Banks, some tourists heeded evacuation orders for a tiny barrier island as Irene strengthened to a Category 3 storm, with winds of 120 mph (193 kph).

By Thursday, that could intensify to a monstrous Category 4 hurricane with winds starting at 131 mph (210 kph).

"We jam-packed as much fun as we could into the remainder of Tuesday," said Jessica Stanton Tice of Charleston, W.Va. She left Ocracoke Island on an early-morning ferry with her husband and toddler.

"We're still going to give North Carolina our vacation business, but we're going to Asheville" in the mountains, she said.

Officials said Irene could cause flooding, power outages or worse as far north as Maine, even if the eye of the storm stays offshore. Hurricane-force winds were expected 50 miles from the center of the storm.

Predicting the path of such a huge storm can be tricky, but the National Hurricane Center uses computer models to come up with a "cone of uncertainty," a three-day forecast that has become remarkably accurate in recent years. Forecasters are still about a day away from the cone reaching the East Coast. A system currently over the Great Lakes will play a large role in determining if Irene is pushed farther to the east in the next three or four days.

The mood was calm in Virginia Beach, Va. Jimmy Capps, manager of the Breakers Resort Inn, said the 56-room hotel is about 80 percent booked for the weekend, despite a few cancellations.

"It just appears they're not quite sure what the storm is going to do," Capps said. "The thing I'm amazed at now is that we haven't had more cancellations so far. Usually when they start mentioning the Outer Banks and Cape Lookout, which we are between, the phones light up."